Thomas Hitschler (born 27 June 1982) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) who has been serving as

Parliamentary State Secretary A Parliamentary State Secretary (') is a member of the Bundestag given a portfolio to assist a Minister with running a government ministry. The position is roughly analogous to deputy ministers. In 2021, there are 36 parliamentary state secretarie ...

in the Federal Ministry of Defence in the coalition government of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister ...

since 2021. He has been serving as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representat ...

from the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

since 2013.

Political career

Hitschler became member of the Bundestag in the

2013 German federal election Federal elections were held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany/ Christian ...

, representing the

Südpfalz Südpfalz is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 211. It is located ...

district. From 2014 until 2021, he was part of the Defence Committee, where he served as his parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on the infrastructure of the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

. From 2018 until 2021, he has also a member of the Committee on Home Affairs. In 2020 he joined the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany’s intelligence services BND,

BfV BFV may refer to: * Baden Football Association, the ''Badischer Fussball-Verband'', a regional football association in Germany * Bavarian Football Association, the ''Bayerischer Fussball-Verband'', a regional football association in Germany * Berli ...

and

MAD Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several ri ...

. In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Op ...

following the 2017 federal elections, Hitschler was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding su ...

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscor ...

and

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germ ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, Hitschler has been a member of the German delegation to the

Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly The Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly (french: Assemblée parlementaire franco-allemande; german: Deutsch-Französische Parlamentarische Versammlung, ''DFPV'') is a joint body of the German Bundestag and the French National Assembly formed ...

since 2019. For the 2021 elections, Hitschler was elected to lead the SPD campaign in Rhineland-Palatinate. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tradit ...

of the SPD, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundati ...

and the Free Democrats (FDP) following the elections, he was part of his party's delegation in the working group on

homeland security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

, civil rights and consumer protection, co-chaired by

Christine Lambrecht Christine Lambrecht (born 19 June 1965) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as the Federal Minister of Defence in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since December 2021. In the gov ...

Konstantin von Notz Konstantin von Notz (born 21 January 1971) is a German lawyer and politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens party. Early life and education Born in Mölln as one of two sons of Friedhelm von Notz, Konstantin grew up in Hamburg and Frankfurt am ...

and

Wolfgang Kubicki Wolfgang Kubicki (born 3 March 1952) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) and member of the Bundestag from 1990 until 1992 and 2017 onwards. He has been vice chairman of the FDP in Germany since December 2013. Sin ...

.Britt-Marie Lakämper (October 21, 2021)
SPD, Grüne, FDP: Diese Politiker verhandeln die Ampel-Koalition
''

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (''WAZ'') is a commercial newspaper from Essen, Germany, published by Funke Mediengruppe. History and profile ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' was founded by Erich Brost and first published 3 April 1 ...

''.

Other activities

* German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member *

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in severa ...

, Member

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
1982 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Rhineland-Palatinate Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub